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Print version ISSN 1413-8123

Ciênc. saúde coletiva vol.17 n.7 Rio de Janeiro Jul. 2012

http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232012000700001

EDITORIAL

Abortion:
Women's Health

"Abortion is a public health issue." This is the opinion of health workers,
feminists, managers and ministers of State in Brazil. Despite the vocal furor
on the topic, public debate on the decriminalization of abortion moves forward
at a slow pace. The main counterforce is a moral one, an overlay of religious
and philosophical beliefs upon the democratic legal order. The recent decision
of the Federal Supreme Court to allow abortion in cases of anencephaly of the
fetus was the single legal alteration of the Penal Code in 70 years. There are
bills in Congress proposing the unrestricted criminalization of abortion - even
in the event of risk of death for women or victims of rape.

Fearful of the criminal law, but convinced of their choices, women have abortions.
By the age of 40, one in five women has had at least one abortion. Abortion
is an unrequited health need. Women die, become ill, suffer physically and psychically
due to abortions performed in unsafe and illegal conditions. This perverse situation
with adverse consequences for women's health can be proven by studies that explore
different facets of the illegality of abortion on women's lives. This was the
joint task of the researchers who submitted their research to this thematic
issue on abortion.

The topic has elicited increasing interest among researchers from different
fields of knowledge. Affirmative action by funding agencies is essential to
stimulate research on strategic issues for public health and the Unified Health
System, as is the case with abortion and women's health. Invitations to bid
Nos. 22/2007 and 54/2008 of CT/CNPq/MS/SCTIE/DECIT are examples. Several articles
presented here were funded by these initiatives, in addition to this special
issue with the support of the Ministry of Health, through the resources of Agreement
1316/2008 of the National Health Fund.

However, there are challenges facing research on abortion in Brazil. Illegality
makes women fearful of talking about their experiences. The stigma of crime
contributes to low-quality care for women having abortions and intimidates health
professionals who work in legal abortion services. There is a silence that is
forced upon women and health professionals. Insecurity surrounds researchers
at all stages of their field research - how to protect women, how to ensure
the confidentiality of their experiences, how to protect them from the risk
of a police investigation are new and disturbing dimensions for the research
teams. This context of risk and prohibition has called for creative solutions
and new methodologies for research into abortion.

The magnitude of illegal and unsafe abortion challenges public health researchers
to address the political controversy with the use of academic research. We should
not expect the moral dilemma of abortion to be settled by a reasonable moral
agreement on such diverse beliefs. Our reasoned efforts should concentrate on
the production of scientific evidence demonstrating the consequences of criminalizing
abortion upon the life and health of women.